Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID MT_2023_Schultz

Beavers and their analogs: the effects of restoration tools on western stream ecosystems

Institute: Montana
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $2,500 Total Non-Federal Funds: $1,175

Principal Investigators: Hilary Schultz

Project Summary: Beaver recolonization and the use of Beaver Dam Analogs (BDA) show promise as climate adaptation and restoration tools for water resource management in the western U.S., yet the dominant focus on their influence on water quantity has overlooked the broader ecological impacts of these techniques. We lack a deeper understanding of how specific characteristics of streams and dam complexes affect element retention and export. Changes in sediment storage and dissolved oxygen concentrations can affect the retention and export of organic carbon, nutrients, and redox-sensitive elements, further complicating our understanding of the effects that beaver dams and BDAs have on water quality. To expand our knowledge of the full range of impacts of BDAs on water quality and ecosystem processes, this project will compare alterations in element retention across streams of varying orders and gradients that contain beaver and BDA complexes with different footprint sizes.